Hunting and Trapping
Why This Matters Plants can keep you alive, but animal protein and fat are the most efficient calories in a survival situation. Fat especially — your body cannot function long-term without it, and plants provide very little. The problem is that animals are faster, more alert, and better adapted to their environment than you are. You won’t outrun a rabbit. You won’t outswim a fish. But you can outthink everything in the forest. Traps work while you sleep. A well-placed snare catches dinner while you’re building shelter. This article teaches you to hunt smart, not hard.
What You Need
- Cordage (see Knots and Cordage)
- A knife, sharp stone, or any cutting edge
- Straight sticks and saplings (for triggers, spears, bows)
- Fire capability (see Fire Making)
- Wire (if salvageable — snare wire is ideal)
- Patience
Ethics and Safety First
Before anything else:
- Kill cleanly. A suffering animal is a moral failure and a practical one — it will struggle, break your trap, and spoil its own meat with stress hormones. Design traps that kill quickly.
- Take only what you need. Overhunting collapses animal populations, and in a survival situation you cannot afford to destroy your food supply.
- Check traps frequently. At minimum twice per day. An animal left in a trap suffers and attracts predators that will steal your catch and damage your equipment.
- Know your predators. In many environments, you’re competing with wolves, bears, big cats, or other humans. Be aware of what else hunts where you hunt. Don’t leave food remains near camp.
Part 1: Tracking — Finding Animals Before Trapping Them
You can’t trap what you can’t find. Before setting any trap, you need to know what lives nearby and where it moves.
Step 1. Look for tracks. After rain or in soft mud/sand/snow near water sources, look for footprints. You don’t need to identify the exact species — categorize by size:
- Small (mouse to squirrel): tiny prints, usually near brush and trees
- Medium (rabbit to raccoon): distinct prints, often on trails
- Large (deer to boar): deep impressions, worn paths
Step 2. Look for scat (droppings). Fresh scat means the animal was here recently. Pellet-shaped = rabbit or deer. Segmented with hair/bone = predator. Berry-filled = bear (leave the area).
Step 3. Find trails. Animals are creatures of habit. They use the same paths between bedding, feeding, and water. Look for:
- Compressed vegetation or worn ground
- Tunnels through undergrowth (rabbit runs)
- Bark rubbed off trees at consistent heights (deer rub)
Step 4. Identify water sources. Every animal needs water daily. Streams, ponds, and puddles are the highest-traffic areas. Set your traps near water.
Step 5. Look for feeding signs. Chewed bark, stripped branches, dug-up roots, nutshells, scattered seeds — all tell you what’s eating where.
Step 6. Time your observations. Most small game is active at dawn and dusk (crepuscular). Note when you see or hear activity — that’s when to check traps.
Part 2: The Simple Snare
The snare is the most important trap. It’s light, fast to make, and works on trails where animals travel. A single person can set 10–20 snares in an area and check them twice daily, dramatically improving food odds.
Step 1. Cut a piece of cordage or wire about 60–90 cm (2–3 feet) long for rabbit-sized game. Wire is ideal because it holds its shape; cordage works but needs a stiffener or branch guide.
Step 2. Tie a small fixed loop at one end (use a bowline or simply twist wire into a loop). Pass the other end through this loop to create a running noose.
Step 3. Size the noose. For rabbits: about 10 cm (4 inches) diameter — roughly a fist width. For larger game, scale up proportionally.
Step 4. Position the snare on a known animal trail. The bottom of the noose should be about 4 fingers’ width above the ground for rabbits (head height for the target animal).
Step 5. Anchor the snare firmly. Tie the free end to a stake driven into the ground, a heavy rock, or a sturdy branch. The anchor must hold against the animal’s panicked pulling.
Step 6. Use small sticks pushed into the ground on either side of the trail to funnel the animal through the snare. Don’t block the trail — just narrow it so the animal can’t go around the noose.
Step 7. Minimize your scent. Handle the snare with gloves, rub it with mud or local vegetation. Avoid stepping on the trail itself — approach from the side.
Step 8. Check every 12 hours at minimum.
How it works: The animal walks through the noose. Its head passes through but the loop catches on its body. As it pulls forward, the noose tightens. A properly set snare on an active trail catches game within 1–3 days.
Part 3: The Deadfall Trap
A deadfall uses a heavy weight (flat rock, log) held up by a trigger mechanism. When an animal disturbs the trigger, the weight falls and kills instantly.
Step 1. Find a flat, heavy rock — at least 5 times the weight of your target animal. A rock the size of a large dinner plate works for squirrels and rats.
Step 2. Build a figure-4 trigger from three sticks:
- Upright stick (vertical): notched near the top to hold the diagonal
- Diagonal stick (angled): notched to lock into the upright, holds the rock
- Bait stick (horizontal): notched to interlock with both, extends under the rock with bait on the far end
Step 3. Carve the notches carefully. The three sticks interlock to form a “4” shape. The system should be stable enough to hold the rock but sensitive enough that a gentle tug on the bait stick collapses everything.
Step 4. Bait the end of the horizontal stick. Use whatever food the target animal eats: nuts, seeds, berries, meat scraps, fish, peanut butter (if scavenged).
Step 5. Carefully prop the heavy rock on the diagonal stick. Position the bait stick so the baited end is directly under the center of the rock.
Step 6. Test the trigger by gently touching the bait stick from a safe distance with a long twig. The rock should fall cleanly.
Placement: Set deadfalls near signs of small animal activity — gnawed nuts, droppings, burrow entrances. Place several in an area for better odds.
Part 4: The Throwing Stick
The simplest hunting weapon. Humans have been throwing sticks at small game for hundreds of thousands of years.
Step 1. Find a heavy, dense hardwood stick — roughly arm’s length, wrist-thick, slightly curved or angular. A natural club shape is ideal. Weight matters more than aerodynamics.
Step 2. Practice your throw. Use a sidearm sweep, releasing at waist height. The stick should rotate horizontally, covering a wide area. Range: 10–20 meters.
Step 3. Targets: rabbits, ground birds (grouse, quail, pheasant), squirrels, and any small animal that freezes when startled. Approach slowly, throw when within range.
Realistic expectations: You’ll miss far more than you hit. The throwing stick is a supplement to trapping, not a replacement. But it costs nothing and is always ready.
Part 5: Spear Making
A spear extends your reach and gives you a weapon for both hunting and defense.
Simple Sharpened Spear
Step 1. Select a straight hardwood sapling or branch, 1.5–2 meters (5–7 feet) long and about 3 cm (1.25 inches) thick. Green wood is better — it’s stronger and less brittle.
Step 2. Sharpen one end to a point using a knife or sharp rock. Carve gradually, rotating the stick, creating a long tapered point rather than a short stubby one.
Step 3. Fire-harden the tip. Hold the sharpened point over hot coals (not open flame) and rotate slowly until the wood darkens and hardens. Don’t let it catch fire or char black. The heat drives out moisture and toughens the wood fibers.
Step 4. Let it cool. Re-sharpen if needed. A fire-hardened point can penetrate hide.
Tipped Spear
Step 5. For a more lethal spear, lash a sharp point to the shaft. Use a sharp stone flake, a knife blade, bone shard, or sharpened piece of metal.
Step 6. Split the end of the shaft about 10 cm (4 inches) deep. Insert the point into the split. Lash tightly with cordage in an X-pattern above and below the point. Seal with pine resin if available.
Part 6: Improvised Bow and Arrow
A bow dramatically extends your effective hunting range. Building a capable bow takes time but is worth the investment.
Step 1. Find a stave — a straight, flexible hardwood branch or sapling about 1.5 meters (5 feet) long and 3–4 cm thick. Yew, ash, hickory, osage orange, and elm are excellent. Avoid brittle woods.
Step 2. Identify the natural curve. The belly (inside curve) will face you. The back (outside) faces the target. Never cut into the back of the bow — this is where the strength fibers are.
Step 3. Carve the belly to create a taper — thicker at the center (handle), thinner toward the tips. Both limbs should flex evenly. Remove wood slowly, testing flex frequently.
Step 4. Cut notches near each tip for the bowstring.
Step 5. String the bow with the strongest cordage you have. The string should be taut when braced, with about 15 cm (6 inches) of gap between the string and handle.
Step 6. Arrows: Find straight sticks about 60–75 cm (24–30 inches) long and pencil-thickness. Straighten by heating over coals and bending. Add a notch (nock) at the back end for the string. Sharpen the front or add a stone/bone/metal point.
Step 7. Fletching: Split feathers in half and lash or glue three half-feathers equally spaced around the back of the arrow. Fletching stabilizes flight. Without it, arrows wobble and lose accuracy beyond 5 meters.
Honest truth: A first-attempt survival bow is inaccurate and weak compared to a manufactured bow. Practice at short range (under 10 meters). Use it for ambush hunting from behind cover at water sources and trails, not for open-field stalking.
Part 7: Field Dressing (Gutting) Game
You’ve caught something. Now you need to process it before it spoils. Field dressing means removing the internal organs to cool the meat and prevent bacterial contamination.
Do this immediately after the kill — within 30 minutes in warm weather.
Step 1. Place the animal on its back. If it’s a mammal, make a shallow cut through the skin and abdominal wall from the pelvis to the ribcage. Shallow — you want to cut skin and muscle, not puncture organs.
Step 2. Use two fingers as a guide under the blade to lift the skin away from the organs as you cut. This prevents nicking the intestines or bladder (which contaminates the meat).
Step 3. Reach in and pull the internal organs (viscera) out as a connected mass. Cut the windpipe and esophagus at the top, and the colon at the bottom. Gravity helps — tilt the animal if possible.
Step 4. Remove the bladder carefully without puncturing it. If urine contacts the meat, trim that section away.
Step 5. Save the liver, heart, and kidneys — these are the most nutrient-dense parts of the animal. Check the liver: a healthy liver is smooth and dark red. A spotted, discolored, or lumpy liver may indicate parasites — discard it and cook all meat thoroughly.
Step 6. Wipe the body cavity with dry grass or cloth. Do not wash with water unless you can hang and dry the carcass immediately — water accelerates spoilage.
Step 7. Prop the body cavity open with a stick to allow air circulation and cooling.
Step 8. If not processing immediately, hang the carcass in shade with good airflow, off the ground and away from insects. Process (skin, butcher, cook, or preserve) as soon as possible.
For small game (rabbits, squirrels): The process is the same but faster. You can often pull the skin off like removing a jacket — make a cut around the midsection, grip both halves, and pull in opposite directions.
Common Mistakes
- Setting only one or two traps. Trapping is a numbers game. Set 10–20 snares across an area. Each individual snare has maybe a 10–20% daily catch rate. More traps, more food.
- Setting traps on human trails instead of animal trails. Look for the small, low tunnels and paths that animals actually use. Human trails are too exposed for most game.
- Building oversized snare loops. If the loop is too large, the animal walks through without triggering it, or the noose catches the body instead of the neck. Match loop size to target animal’s head.
- Checking traps only once a day. Twice daily minimum. A caught animal in the open attracts predators that will destroy your trap and steal your food.
- Puncturing the gut during field dressing. This is the most common beginner mistake. Go shallow. Use fingers to guide the blade. If you do puncture the intestines, trim away contaminated meat generously and cook everything to well-done.
- Neglecting to fire-harden the spear tip. An un-hardened wooden point is soft and crumbles on impact. Five minutes over coals makes it dramatically stronger.
- Eating only muscle meat. Organ meats (liver, heart, kidneys) contain essential vitamins and minerals that muscle meat lacks. In a survival diet, you need organs to prevent deficiency.
- Hunting large, dangerous game alone. Deer, boar, and anything with antlers, tusks, or claws can injure or kill you. Large game is a group activity. Stick to small game when alone.
What’s Next
With hunting and trapping skills, you can progress to:
- Keeping animals alive for breeding — Animal Husbandry
- Processing hides into leather — Leatherwork
- Making tools from bone and antler — Bone Tools
- Preserving your catch for storage — Food Preservation
- Cooking over fire — Fire Making
Quick Reference Card
Trap Priority (Best Return on Effort)
| Method | Effort to Build | Catch Rate | Target Size | Works While You Sleep? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simple snare | Low (5 min each) | Moderate per trap, high in volume | Rabbit, squirrel, birds | Yes |
| Deadfall trap | Medium (15–30 min) | Moderate | Squirrel, rat, small game | Yes |
| Throwing stick | None (pick up a stick) | Low | Rabbit, ground birds | No |
| Spear | Medium (30 min–1 hr) | Low–moderate (ambush only) | Fish, small–medium game | No |
| Bow and arrow | High (hours–days) | Moderate (with practice) | Small–large game | No |
Field Dressing Checklist
- Cut shallow — pelvis to ribcage
- Guide blade with fingers — don’t puncture organs
- Remove viscera as one mass
- Save heart, liver, kidneys
- Wipe cavity dry — don’t wash
- Prop open for airflow
- Process or hang in shade immediately
The one rule: Set more traps. Your traps hunt 24 hours a day. You don’t.